Sick Irony
by Freedra Kyes
Summary: What the hell were you thinking!" she exploded. "He hates vampires and now he is one! Do you know how twisted that is!" Just a bit from the third chappy (not quite done.)
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Um, basically Xander gets bit by a Menos demon, one who's bite is deadly and exhibits cold like symptoms, and Spike, unknowedly shows concern for Xander as he deteriates, and yeah......... In Spike's P.O.V.

(The facts might be a bit screwed up, but just bear with me, ok? I don't exactly watch the show.)

Well, like all great stories, this one starts out in an epic battle of good v.s. evil; in other words, myself, Buffy, Willow and Xander against the Menos demons. Unfortunately for all you readers out there, that's not exactly important. What is important in that Xander had gotten bit by those little buggers. But none, save Xander, knew about it.

A couple of nights later, all of us in that Menos hunt noticed as Xand came in, he coughed lightly, but the girls and I brushed it off as him getting a cold. No big deal, right?

"Xand?" Willow asked, "Are you feeling ok?"

He smiled and said, "It's nothing, just catching--." he pulled out a Kleenex from his pocket and sneezed. "A cold," he finished after blowing his nose. "No big deal."

I looked at him, but then a scent caught me. Blood. While the others talked, I tried to find the source of the scent. An open wound on Xander's left arm.

"You been cute, mate?" I asked.

"What?" Xander asked.

"I said, 'You've been cut?'," I repeated. Truth of it was, I really had said "cute". I knew he was cute, but I wasn't going to say anything.

He gave me a weird look, but said, "No, what makes you think that?"

I reached over and pulled the left sleeve of his shirt of up, revealing bandages and a circular blood pattern. "Mind explaining that?"

He looked exposed at this comment, and started babbling something.

"You weren't bit last night were you?" Buffy asked.

"No, I fell..."

"Xander!"

"What?"

"Who knows what could happen from that bite!" Buffy said.

"Look, nothing's happened."

"Yet.." Willow added.

"Look, will you guys just cut it? I'm going to be--" He cut off due to a coughing fit. When it ended, all of us around him looked to his mouth.

"Don't tell me you all want to kiss me," he said, jokingly.

"By chance, do you always cough up blood when you get a cold?" I asked him.

He looked at us confused, but then wiped his mouth and he realized that he indeed did cough up a bit of blood.

"No way," he whispered. Then he said, "It's probably a coincidence. I probably should be getting home." And he left to go to his place.

I left,too, contimplating what to do next because I didn't know how long he would survive the bite.

The next night, I came in to our meeting place and was met with a very ill-looking Xander.

"You okay there?" I asked him.

He looked up at me, looking as bad as the concept of Hell. "Well, let's see," he said, "I can't breathe, my head's beating like a bass drumb. I can't sit,or I can't breathe, period. I suppose the best thing about it is that I only really went to about two classes. Not that I went home, but because my teachers told me to sit, despite the fact I told them I can't and made myself faint."

"Okay..."

"Basically, 'Feeling like Hell' doesn't seem to describe it."

"Ah."

"Yep," Xander explained, "I've tried everything, half the time, I was surprized that I didn't over dose. I've even let Willow try a spell on me to just relive the pain in my head. Every single time, no good."

He looked like he was going to keel over at any point.

His sneeze broke the silece and my train of thoughts.

"Bless you," I said, cringing at the fact that I had said it.

He gave me another look.

"What's up with you?" he asked.

"Same ole, same ole," I replied.

"Huh..." He said, then began to violently cough. As he did so, he sank to his knees, and just like that he started fighting for breath. I immediately noticed that and helped him back onto his feet,where he did finally start to breathe again.

"Thanks," he panted. He laid his head on my shoulder as he tried to catch his breath. I was shocked at this. My heart might have skipped a beat if I were alive. Instead my breath caught in my throat. I even think I started going hard. I didn't realize that he had passed out while his head was there.

"Xander?" I asked, gently shaking the unconcious guy, "Xand? You awake?" When I had discovered he wasn't, I said out loud to no one in particular, "Oh, great."

"What's great?" a perticularly annoying voice said.

"Go away, who ever you are, I don't need help," which was half way true.

Buffy came in, "Uh-huh..." she looked down, "You sure? Look, what's ever wrong with him, we'll have to take him to Giles while he's still out."

"Okay," I said, noticing her reach down and put her hands around his ankles, "But there's one problem with your approach."

She stood up. "What?"

"He told me he can't breathe when he sits down then what makes you think he'll be able to breathe lying down?"

"Ah, I see your point, but he'll be fine."

"Okay..." I replied uncertainly.

I really didn't know what would happen. But she was right, now would be the right time to take him to Giles because he wouldn't protest or try to get away or anything. I nodded and helped Buffy transport him to the house of Giles.

She motioned for me to lay him down on the couch, and I did so.

"Giles," Buffy said, "look at his left arm. Spike said something yesterday night about him bleeding there. When we asked Xander about it, but he denied getting bit last night."

Giles nodded and looked at the wounded arm of the unconcious boy. After the bloody bandages came off, there was a distinct bite mark in his arm.

I actually couldn't believe that he had lied about that, even though I myself could be labled a liar. But he doesn't normally lie, does he?

Giles looked through his books, and asked, "What sort of demon were they?"

"Uh, they looked like Menos demons," I said, looking at Xander, who looked like he was having trouble breathing, so I brought the sleeping boy up onto his feet and let him lean on me, making sure to look cool about the whole thing.

"Menos, did you say?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, why?" Xander started to slip, but I brought him back up to resting his head on my shoulder.

"Menos demons' bites are extremely vemomous and cause cold like symptoms and difficulty breathing when not on one's feet, and even the expeltion of blood from one's lungs. If not treated by then, there's no hope for survival."

I think I would have paled even more than I looked. Maybe I did. I know Buffy looked scared.

"Buf, you gonna be ok?" Giles asked her.

"Yeah, I think so, I don't know," she replied.

I personally couldn't believe it. I really had no idea that those little buggars could do that sort of thing. I mean I've been bitten by one or two over the decades, but I guess I never really thought they could get someone sick. Or even kill someone. Course, I was immortal, but still, I never thought I could be so thick.. I always assumed that was Angel's job.

Xander started to wake and opened his eyes and looked about him sleepily. "Ok, great, now where am I?" he asked.

He looked cute whe he was tired.

"You're in Giles' house," Buffy explained, "And you won't be 'all right'."

"Huh?"

"Let the boy wake up first before you drop this bomb on him," I told her.

"No," Xander said, looking at me innocently, "It's okay. Why won't I be alright?"

"Because you got bit that night of our fight. And you hacked up blood. Basically that was the warning sign of your poisoning."

"What are you talking about," he said, half-asleep, "What bite?"

"What bite?!?" Buffy said, starting to get mad. She roughly lifted his left arm and showed him the exposed bite mark. "That bite. Xand, because you didn't tell us sooner, you're going to die!"

That did it, he was wide-awake in shock for a while. "Are you serious?"

"We checked the books, Xander," Giles explained, "And they told me about the blood. Yes, it's true. You will die, eventually. It's all in a matter of time."

He looked at Giles, then to Buffy, and eventually to me, his dark eyes pleading that someone tell him that this was some sort of horrible joke.

"Sorry," I said, "I know you wish this were some sort of prank, but I can't tell you anything like that."

He just looked at me horrified. I didn't show it,but Ialso wished that this weren't true. I knew that there wasn't a way out of this, at least that would keep him human. I didn't want to try anything that might kill him right away. I knew that it wouldn't be what he wanted.

He nodded, finally accepting his fate, and asked, "Could someone help me back home, please, I don't think I'll make it on my own."

"Spike, would you do that please, I need to talk to Buffy alone," Giles said.

"Yeah, sure," I replied, acting like I was uninterested in doing this, but I was actually estatic about that. I led Xander out the door while he leaned on me due to his tiredness.

"Spike," he said.

"Yeah?"

"I really appreciate what you're doing for me." He looked at me, a sleepy sort of loving look was in his eyes. "Really. I've also been meaning to tell you....something." He gave me a really cute look.

"And what would that be?"

"I really like you," he said; then he laid his head on my shoulder again.

"Really?" I asked, masking my unnervedness.

"Yeah," he said, raising his head again. "Whoa, got dizzy there."

We stopped so he could lose the dizziness.

"Yeah," he repeated then added, "I mean, I might as well come clean since I'm going to die in God knows how many days." He put his head back down on my shoulder and closed his eyes. He must have really trusted meif he would do that, or that he was extremely tired. I knew he didn't like vampires much, but he did like me, so I didn't know if what he said was true or it was just out of pure tiredness. Which reminded me...

"Xander, how much sleep did you get in the past few days?"

"Uh....less than half a day's worth in a week. Why?"

"Yeah, I would be tired too," I commented.

"It's because I can't exactly breathe when I'm sitting or lying down; I mean, I can sort of breathe when I'm lying down but it's not a whole lot of good." He held another Kleenex to his nose and sneezed. "Ugh, excuse me."

I smiled, but he didn't see. I sighed. He's such a sweet guy when it comes down to it all. He just chooses to be very annoying at times, which is alright, I guess.

Then I felt something warm and wet start absorbing into the fabric around my shoulder. I realized Xander was crying, which was totally understandable. I mean, wouldn't you cry or something like that if you found out that you were going to die?

"Are you ok?" I asked curiously. I tightened the grip I had around his waist a bit more. "Xander, answer me."

"I don't know," he replied after a bit, "I guess. This all is just a lot to handle."

"I would imagine."

"Just promise me one thing, though, if Buffy or Wil or Oz or even Cordelia can't be there for the big moment, You be there at least, ok?"

"Yeah," I told him, "sure."

He smiled as we neared the Harris household. "Would you help me further?" he asked, his hand just barely being able to grasp the doorknob.

"I don't know. If you want me to by chance, sure."

"You can come in, you know that, right?"

Had I known that? I couldn't say for sure. I suppose I might have. But you've also got to concider that he's extremely tired and probably doesn't know what he's saying.

"If that's what you want," I told him.

He gave a tired nod, and I helped him through the door and up to his room.

"Xander?" his mother asked, "Who's with you?"

"Just a friend," he said, tiredly, and he directed me to his room and I figured he wanted the door shut.

And so, I helped him into his bed, and sat beside him while he tried to sleep, but he didn't look too comfotable.

As I decided to leave, he bolted up and started getting violent fits of coughing until they subsided, and caught the attention of myself and his parents.

"What happened?" his mother asked me.

"He's gotten very ill," I told them plainly.

So they decided to go and call 9-1-1 because their son was so tragically ill. Well, when the ambulace arrived, they found that he wasn't breating well, so they gave him mask. Like that would do any good, and the paramedics loaded him up into the ambulance, while I went over to Buffy's to see if she was there yet.

Well, that's about all she wrote for the now, the lovely little devil. I want to thank her for donating her time and efforts and energy to typing this whole little thing up for me. Come back soon to see if I haven't dictated any more for her to write. And as always, please read and review. And I swear, any flames will be used to roast the reviewer if my name wasn't William the Bloody!

From the writer, Freedra E. Kyes: Hey, if anyone would like to tag up with me to make this better, I would absolutely love that, um just tell me you want to and give me ur email address and I would love to finnish writing this with you. And of course, as always, take care. You're most appreciative author, Freed. P.S. or you could send ideas that you would like to see in the next few chapters or a follow up.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to all those who have or will review to this, and I hope you do like it.

Spike will critique at the end and tell you what he thought of this chapter.

By that time, the sun had started coming up so I was stranded at his house. When nighttime came, you could bet I was at the hospital.

"Xander Harris, where is he?" I demanded of the front desk.

"Down the hall and to the left."

I gave a quick nod and flew down the hall, but it was obvious which room he was in. Buffy, Willow, and Oz stood outside of it.

"How is he?" I asked.

They gave me bloody damned looks.

"Why do you people keep doing that?!" I exploded, "I just want to know how the bloody wanker's doing! Is that so bloody damn ass wrong?"

"Ok, Spike, sheesh, chill," Buffy said. "He's doing well, they had to give him air, but he's doing good."

"His parents are in there now," Willow added. "They asked if they could be alone with him for now."

"Over the day, he coughed so hard, he made himself throw up, and the second time..." Oz trailed off.

"What?" I said, showing my fear.

"They said he was too young."

"What?!"

Oz was scary-solemn as he said, "Xand gave himself a heart attack."

"Come again?"

"You heard me." He was as badly shaken about this as I or the girls there were.

"He's alright now," Willow said comfortingly. "He's unconscious right now, but he'll be okay."

I looked at her and said, "How in the bloody hell is it going to be 'alright'?"

"Um....he'll--he'll wake up."

'Yeah, sure,' I thought.

Over the course of weeks, I sat in that very room with the blinds drawn, watching as the unconscious boy deteriorated. I mean, I could have been doing something other than that, for instance, feed, sleep, you know, even possibly taking my revenge on those wankers that put him in there in the first place, you know, the usual. But two reasons kept me there. One, I had promised Buffy, and two, I sort of wanted to stay there. Also, that promise I had made Xander a while ago. A thin, clear plastic tube had been placed around his head and two tubes connecting to that one had been put up his nose to feed him the oxygen he needed to keep his breathing as unstressed as possible.

I saw his hand move slightly and I looked into his waking face.

He looked as though he were in a lot of pain, very ragged and very exhausted. He looked over at me and said, "Hey, Spike," in his old way that would used to bug the hell out of me. A loud, whooping cough escaped him as he grabbed a Kleenex and held it against his mouth, ready for the ruby red to come. He sighed.

I had never really seen him that depressed. That bite must be really taking its toll on him.

"You alright there?" I asked.

He closed his eyes and put his head on the pillow behind him. "Only if you think barely having the strength to lift a finger, not being able to eat or drink, and feeling like your head is being continuously bashed into a concrete/brick/lead combo wall as being 'alright', then yeah, I'm just dandy." There was a bit of an un-Xander like bite to his voice.

"Listen here, lovely, you may not know it, but those who run those cosmos up there might have something bigger for you in stored than death."

"Yes, like being a walking corpse for all of eternity?"

"You don't have to get snippy; besides I know some great vamps, granted myself's included."

He gave me a very un-Xander like look, shook his head and said, "Sorry, it's just the whole bite-and-die thing's got me down."

"Not much different than a vampire," I told him. He smiled at this. I continued, "There's the Xander Harris smile."

His grin got wider, and I think I got a laugh out of him.

"You could sit up on the bed with me if you want," he said, his eyes begging, "Please."

"Only if you want me to," I said as I sat by his side.

Every now and then, as we talked, he would let out a struggled cough.

I just looked at him and contemplated what to do next.

"One more thing," Xand said, looking sheepishly at me.

"Okay," I agreed hesitantly.

"Kiss me if you like me."

"What?"

"Kiss me if you like me."

"I can't."

"Oh," he said disappointedly, "Okay."

"I don't like you; I-" I took a deep breath in and took the plunge. "I love you," I finished slowly.

He gave a surprised cough, almost choke-like, and I was afraid he'd get another heart attack or worse. When he recovered, he said, "Oh," rather shocked. He saw my look and gave me a soft wink and fell asleep.

It was horrible watching a once strong and healthy man deteriorate at such a fast rate that he was barely more than skin and bone. His skin was paler than what it had been before. Basically, if a white wax sculpture face could sweat, that's what he looked like. I was afraid of even touching his hand because I thought I might break it. In short, he was really a shadow of what he had once been.

This night in particular gave me quite a fright, not enough to wet the ole knickers but you get the idea.

Xander shot out of a, for once, peaceful sleep, and started coughing more violently than ever before. It looked like he might hack up a bit more than blood or vomit if you know what I mean Buf and I, to her surprise, tried to et him to calm when he collapsed on us. The heart monitor he was now on slowly gave out.

About half a dozen docs and nurses came in the room. There was very few distinct words among the jumble of words as Buffy and I were pushed out of the room, other than "The heart attack weakened it" and "he's going into a cardiac arrest." Then there was a shout of, "Clear!" and the sound of a pair of shock paddles sending an electric charge into someone's skin. It had to be one of the most horrifying and sickening sounds I've ever heard.

After several tries and failures, we heard the little _bip, bip, bip_ of the heart monitor going again. Most of the doctors and nurses left, except for one.

"He might not be around much longer," the doc said. "But what I don't get is how such a healthy young man could deteriorate at such a rapid pace."

Buffy and I looked at each other nervously, trying to figure out how to tell the doc.

"It looks a bit like an extreme case of a cancerous type thing, but it has the symptoms of whooping cough or a cold." The doc left to call Xander's parents.

And for some reason, but at that exact moment, I started to remember wondering how Xander's blood tasted. I caught myself and was horrified at that recalled thought, but wasn't totally appalled. No, in fact, I felt an old demon I thought I'd conquered a while back start to creep back up as the thought of turning Xander came into my head. 'No,' I thought, 'I...can't do that to him...not the man I love.'

_He's dying......He'll be leaving you soon, leaving you to be heartbroken for the rest of eternity. You know where he's going. Someplace you'll never get to. And once there, you'll never be able to bring him back. No matter what you do or how badly you want him, his warmth, his love, his everything, in your arms and life. And you'll be lonely for the rest of eternity._

Bloody Hell. If I didn't know that already, I had bloody little voices in my head telling me the obvious. 'Thanks a lot, boys.'

_Hey, that's what we're here for, to keep you insane. Or was that from going insane? We can never remember._

I rolled my eyes. Not only were the little wankers annoying, they had no clue what good they were for. Not only that, but it was true, the man I actually loved was dying and I felt as helpless as the infant I once had way back when. Don't quite remember when, but then again I normally never do.

Back on topic, what to do about the situation at hand? Buffy would want me to let him die, but then again, Xander's not exactly the love of her life, now is he?

Boy, you could say I was in a pickle. Vampirize the man I love, or lose him for the rest of eternity. What a choice, huh?

Well, that's about it for now. Um.......not a whole lot to say, although she did make up a few parts in there, and added a bit o' flavor, other than that.............she really did a good job.


End file.
